it mentions weaker conditions in new york and some other districts hit by hurricane sandy late october despite a moderate improvement overall. on consumer spending, most districts saw an increase at a moderate pace and they also gave mostly upbeat expectations for the holiday sales season. on housing, the report says the market continued to improve across most districts. selling prices were steady or rising. on employment, over half the districts reported improvements. but in manufacturing, 7 of the 12 districts reported that activity slowed or declined somewhat compared to the previous report. >>> on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is gaining ground against the yen this morning. dollar/yen is fetching 82.04-08 at the moment. analysts say concerns over the u.s. economic outlook eased slightly after u.s. president barack obama and a top republican in congress hinted they were optimistic about a deal over the so-called fiscal cliff. the euro is edging higher against the yen and that's changing hands at 106.24-26. let's take a look at stocks now. tokyo share prices are edging highe